Continuity theories reimagined

Abstract This article develops a new construal of continuity theories of personal identity. On this construal, continuity theories are understood as theories of the real definition of personhood—of what it is to be a person : to be a person just is to be $$X$$ -continuous (e.g., psychologically continuous) with oneself and only oneself. This construal is motivated by two familiar challenges to the psychological theory: the modal coincidence objection and the unanalyzability objection. This article concludes by examining the implications of this account and considering potential revisions to it.